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Annually, more than 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) are associated with medication errors in the United States. Medical negligence based on human error is the primary cause of wrongly prescribed medications. Many observers of the problem note that each year many instances of medication errors aren’t reported at all.
Medication errors may occur anywhere in the drug distribution system. Those typically responsible for such errors include a prescribing physician, physicians’ assistants, nurses, nurses’ aides, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and drug manufacturers. Medication errors may also occur when the drugs are under the control of the patient or care provider.
Medication errors may occur because of administering, dispensing, prescribing, repackaging, or monitoring the medication. Mistakes with medications may be caused by events and circumstances such as:
- Poor communication resulting in the misinterpretation of a verbal prescription order;
- Ambiguities in the names, medical abbreviations, and directions for use of pharmaceutical products;
- Complicated directions that may be too difficult for a particular patient to execute or follow;
- Manufacturer errors in packaging and labeling the pharmaceutical product;
- Incorrectly accounting for patient allergies or their use of other medication; and
- Misuse by a patient due to a failure to understand the product’s directions.